ColumnBRANDS WITH A TALE!

How do some brands consistently manage to charm the consumer? The secret perhaps lies in what do they tell, how do they tell it, and who do they tell it to…

At the heart of any brand communication is ‘context’, that is, the environment in which communication should ideally take place! Campaigns created with the contextual understanding leave a lasting impact on consumers. Bournvita, Asian Paints, and Fastrack are some of the brands that have understood the consumer-psyche well. Abreast with the changing marketing environment, they have responded through relevant renditions in their campaigns. Let’s look at them closely.

BOURNVITA

Brand Bournvita is in a bitter-sweet phase, talking to two different audiences — the mother and the child. The recent campaign focuses on a mother making it tough for the child to win the race (of life). Talking to the new-age mom, it has repositioned itself as an important ingredient in the child’s 'udaan' (flight). In the ad, their tracks get tougher as the mother and son – an achiever and an aspirer – run towards the finish line. Like a tough coach, she prepares her son for winning, and ‘winning is a habit’, she says. The proposition “Tayyari Jeet Ki” focuses on mother as a winner’s inspiration. From the “dancing mom” to the “confident mom” – mothers and their portrayal has come a long way in Indian advertising. The new-age mom is more participatory when it comes to prepare a winner of a son. The campaign recognises this quality, as it portrays a young mother, dressed in tracks, training her child, making him realise the importance of mistakes, practice, and indeed losing in order to win gradually! And, at last, giving him ‘his’ cup of bournvita.The cultural basis: single-child nuclear families, professionally qualified parents, and especially moms. Today, a mother is her son’s first-row-friends, and not a mere tiffin-packer. Bournvita, riding with the cultural shift, bases its campaign on this agency of emotional bonding.

ASIAN PAINTS

Asian Paints stands out in recognising the shift in emotional significance of “home” for the changing Indian consumer, who, over the years, has become more independent. The “Har ghar kuch kehta hai” campaign captured the pulse of the great Indian family, showcasing how a home is more than mere brick and mortar. Joint families have given way to nuclear families and, thereby, to more compact homes (and flats). But still persists the obsession to make their homes look the best. An extension of their personalities, consumers constantly seek to decorate and create their own personalised space. Throw in nostalgia and pride and the outcome is pure emotion! So the Asian Paints Home Solutions campaign sought to address the cash-rich and time-poor consumer. Working couples, away from their native towns/cities, today hardly have the time to paint their homes and tend to postpone it. The AP campaigns talk directly to such young couples. So, AP stepped in as a guide and offered customised choices. The result: houses are smaller than before but a lot more designer than earlier! The brand now talks to a younger socio-economic class who are more experimentative than their elders.

FASTRACK

Fastrack was one of the earliest brands crafted for a young India. It directly talked to the post-liberalisation kid who grew up in an era of multiple choices. Thus, the “How many you have” campaign made an instant connect with the college goer and positioned the wrist watch as a must-have fashion accessory. The language used in campaigns is youth-colloquial, thus smartly ‘excluding’ the rest of the world. Then, the “Move On” campaign mirrored the youth’s understanding of love and relationships. The brand understood the gender nuances and thus stood away from stereotyping the roles of boys and girls. The campaigns celebrate defiance of convention. The brand appeals to the here-and-now generation. Outrageous situations and loud colour tones, with popular music for the background score, put the brand in vogue with the young generation. Fastrack has entered the young horizons by sharing and showing ‘what it means to be young’ today. Subtly, the brand endorses the fact that across geographies the generation is quite similar in terms of their lifestyle — music, food, fashion, and relationships.